Trump Bullying Will Hurt Millions of Iranians

Treating the welfare of the Iranians people like a TV show, Donald Trump used a meme from The Game of Thrones – an arrogant, stylized photo of himself with the tagline: “Sanctions Are Coming November 5” – to announce the new round of crippling sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, banks and shipping.

Iranian government officials want to know how the Trump administration can
get away with punishing Iran and other countries for complying with the internationally
recognized nuclear deal signed in 2015. “The US is, in effect, threatening states
who seek to abide by Resolution 2231 with punitive measures,” said President
Rouhani. “This constitutes a mockery of international decisions and the blackmailing
of responsible parties who seek to uphold them.”

Treating the welfare of the Iranians people like a TV show, Donald Trump used
a meme from The Game of Thrones – an arrogant, stylized photo of himself with
the tagline: “Sanctions Are Coming November 5” – to announce the new round of
crippling sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports, banks and shipping.

This is the second round of sanctions since Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear
deal, a deal that was signed in 2015 not only by the US and Iran, but also by
Germany, England, France, Russia and China – and approved unanimously by the UN
Security Council. It’s also a deal that has been working. Iran has been complying
with the most intrusive inspections regime ever devised, as the International
Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed 13
times.

Trump, always ready to bulldoze international agreements, unilaterally withdrew
from the deal and imposed a first round of sanctions in August and the second
round now. These sanctions are designed to stop not just US companies from trading
with Iran, but all companies – anywhere in the world. According to Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin, “Any financial institution, company, or individual
who evades our sanctions risks losing access to the U.S. financial system and
the ability to do business with the United States or US companies.” In effect,
the Trump administration, practicing imperial hubris on steroids, is determined
to punish countries abiding by an internationally approved agreement.

Faced with US threats, big Western companies that had recently signed contracts
with Iran, such as Total, Eni, Boeing, Airbus, and Peugeot, have canceled multi-billion
dollar deals.

Desperate to counter US sanctions, the European Union is creating a mechanism
called the “special purpose vehicle.” It is essentially a barter system, similar
to one used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, to exchange Iranian oil
for European goods without money changing hands. The US government has vowed
to sabotage this effort. “I have no expectation that there will be any transactions
that are significant that go through a special purpose vehicle based upon what
I’ve seen,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said. “But if there are transactions
that have the intent of evading our sanctions, we will aggressively pursue our
remedies.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo boasted
that even before the November 5 sanctions went into effect, the US had already
succeeded in reducing Iranian crude oil exports by more than 1 million barrels,
and insists that the goal is to stop ALL Iranian oil exports. The administration
is granting temporary waivers to eight
countries, including India, South Korea and Japan, principally out of concern
that withdrawing so much oil from the market at once would lead to a spike in
global oil prices. Moreover, they are merely six-month waivers contingent on
countries “winding down” their oil business with Iran. A major stipulation for
the waivers is that Iran’s revenues must be kept in foreign accounts that can
only be used for trade in “nonsanctioned goods and services.”

While this economic stranglehold is officially designed to “stop
Iran’s destabilizing activities across the world,” Trump administration
officials are known to be gunning for regime change, hoping that distraught
Iranians take to the streets to overthrow their government.

Indeed, since last December there have been sporadic protests against the economic
hardships. But will unorganized protesters really be capable of toppling a well-armed,
tightly controlled regime? Some analysts speculate that what the Trump administration
wants in Iran is not even regime change but chaos, with Iranians fighting each
other so they won’t be projecting power beyond their borders.

Trump’s wishful thinking aside, the most likely effects of the sanctions will
be to further inflame regional conflicts, empower conservative forces in Iran,
make other governments resentful of US imperial overreach and worst of all,
needlessly cause suffering to millions of Iranian citizens.

The sanctions are already taking a tragic toll. While there are humanitarian
exemptions on food and medicines, restrictions on banks and shipping companies
make even exempted items difficult to obtain. Asked about humanitarian exemptions,
French Ambassador to Washington Gerard
Araud said, “The banks are so terrified by the sanctions that they don’t
want to do anything with Iran.”

Below is a sampling of the desperate messages we have been getting from people
in Iran:

We are suffering the sanctions with our bodies and souls. Businesses are
closing, workers are losing their jobs, food prices are increasing by the
hour. We may not be happy with our government, but this economic situation
makes us more dependent on the government.

When I sleep at night there is one set of food prices. When I get up in
the morning, they have doubled. We are losing our ability to buy food for
our children because of Mr. Trump.

My grandmother in Iran has gone blind in one eye because she can no longer
access her diabetes medicine. Thanks America.

I am a teacher in Iran. Before President Trump violated the nuclear deal,
my salary was $800 a month. Now I have to work 12 hours a day, six days a
week, just to make $250. The harsher the sanctions, the more difficult our
lives become. I don’t know why we should suffer the consequences of decisions
made by stubborn officials, whether here or in the United States. We just
want to live normal lives.

Donald Trump is only too happy to make a mockery of international decisions.
It is up to the rest of the world to stop him.